A fine and important miniature of Napoléon-Andoche d'Abrantès as a young boy, facing left in blue uniform of the Polish Lancers with silver-braided crimson lapels and collar, red-bordered cross-belt and belt applied with gilt Imperial Eagle, silver aiguillettes and epaulets, flowing fair hair; cloud and sky background

Details

FERDINANDO QUAGLIA (1780-1853)
A fine and important miniature of Napoléon-Andoche d'Abrantès as a young boy, facing left in blue uniform of the Polish Lancers with silver-braided crimson lapels and collar, red-bordered cross-belt and belt applied with gilt Imperial Eagle, silver aiguillettes and epaulets, flowing fair hair; cloud and sky background
signed 'Quaglia.' (lower left)
oval, 2 5/8 in. (65 mm.) high, reeded silver frame with easel stand

Provenance

Prince Lucien Murat (1803-1878).
His grandson, 5th Prince Murat (1856-1932).
His son, Prince G. Murat, Grasse, until 1992 (with provenance letter mis-identifying the sitter as his great-grandfather Prince Lucien Murat).

Literature

Duchesse d'Abrantès, Mémoires ou Souvenirs historiques sur Napoléon, la Révolution etc., Paris, n.d. [1831-1835], VIII, p. 565.
A. Maze-Sencier, Les fournisseurs de Napoléon Ier et des deux Impératrices, Paris, 1893, p. 205.
C. Jeannerat, 'Il pittore Ferdinando Quaglia', Dedalo, I, 1921, p. 542.
E. Schlumberger, 'La visite que la Princesse Murat n'attendait pas' Connaissance des Arts, no. 108, February 1961, p. 40, illustrated p. 41 fig. 4 (sitter mis-identified as Prince Achille Murat).
J. Tranié/J.-C. Carmigniani, Les Polonais de Napoléon, Paris, 1982, illustrated p. 74 (sitter mis-identified as Sigismond Krasinski).
Exhibition catalogue Bordeaux, Musée des Arts décoratifs/Geneva, Musée de l'Horlogerie/Paris, Musée du Louvre, L'âge d'or du petit portrait, 1995-1996, p. 23, illustrated in colour fig. 11.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Napoléon-Andoche Junot, Duc d'Abrantès (1807-1851) was the eldest son of the famous French General Andoche Junot, Duc d'Abrantès and his wife Laure Permon who published her celebrated Mémoires ou Souvenirs historiques sur Napoléon between 1831 and 1835. The present miniature, painted in 1812, is highly praised in the chapter mentioning Quaglia: 'I addressed myself to Quaglia the man who, in my opinion, painted miniatures the best. The one he did of my son is one of the most beautiful things of its kind in the world; it was for his father and was carried to him in Russia.'
At his christening, Napoléon-Andoche d'Abrantès was styled a Polish Lancer of the Imperial Guard by his godfather Emperor Napoleon, a position this miniature portrays.

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